There is a strong market need for an apparatus that can enable the subcutaneous self-administration of a biologic medication in a wearable format factor. For instance, the treatment of diabetes requires the subcutaneous delivery of insulin. As a result, there are several commercially available wearable “patch pumps” that deliver a medication on the market today. These “patch pumps” incorporate the biologic medication, pumping mechanism, and infusion set into a patch that attaches to a patient's skin, thus eliminating the need external systems.
However, these commercially available “patch pumps” are prohibitively expensive to many patients due to their high manufacturing costs. In addition, the cost of these devices are further increased because they require proprietary biologic cartridges or require the biologic to be manually transferred in the patch pump. Further, insulin and other biologics must be stored at refrigerated temperatures, and therefore, there is a great amount of patient discomfort associated with wearing a cold patch pump.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved patch pump that overcomes these and other limitations of the commercially available “patch pumps.”